Catch 23: the 23rd
by looooouisee
Summary: Around the time when Noodle was given to Dr. Kyuzo along with 22 others to be trained to fight along side the Government
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1_

Mr. Kyuzo stood by the front door of his apartment block, situated far out of the main city of Tokyo, above an oriental Chinese restaurant that always wafted the smell of fish and batter through the floor of his place.

He was told via official letter that he should go down to street level at 10:15am exactly to meet a 'Government official limousine'.

Apparently he had to look out for the Japanese flags flying; like he'd have to identify an official limousine from a normal one- limousines around here were as rare as… well, put it this way, it would make the headlines of the local newspapers.

He glanced down at his watch: 10:13am. It was as dry today as it had been for the last 7 months.

The restaurant was as empty as usual, the school down the end of the main street was quiet as the children where in class and the cows in the field opposite the apartment stood idle, surrounded by chocolate-brown grass and dried out tree stumps- a reminder that this village used to be one of the main producers of fruit for the country.

Suddenly, all the doors leading out of the school opened and about 40 pupils- the population of the school- came charging out and around the corner, and out of view.

Moments later, a metallic, pure white limousine drove round the corner, kicking up dust from the dry dirt road with all 40 kids in tow.

Panic set in as he remembered the letter rambling on about this meeting being top secret Government business.

People all down the street were sticking their heads out from their houses or shop-fronts to see what all the commotion was about as the children of the village were yelling and carrying on as they followed the car towards his restaurant.

As the limo cruised ever closer to him, the drivers eyes found his and he shook his head meaning he won't stop.

Mr. Kyuzo was gaping at the scene folding out before him but luckily he fitted in with every one else; the limo passed and turned off of main street and the children were called back into school.

The old mans mouth remained open as he stumbled out the back through a side gate towards his prizes cherry tree- one of the only living plants in the village.

Squinting into the sun, a figure approached on the horizon, followed by a flock of smaller figures.

Guessing that this is the Governments way of avoiding unwanted attention, Mr. Kyuzo walks over to meet the young man.

"Mr. Kodai Kyuzo?" the man enquired. Kodai nods his agreement.

"Sir, these," he gestures behind him to about 25 small Japanese children all patiently waiting in two lines, "are the subjects for the project mentioned in the letter you received."


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

Mr. Kyuzo glanced behind the official looking man at the children again and was daunted by the sheer number of them.

In the letter, they hadn't stated how many children would take part in this 'experiment' but he had envisaged maybe three or four, not… not- "How many are there?" he asked, unable to keep the panic from creeping into his words.

"Twenty-three, last time I checked," he said, chuckling to himself seemingly unaware of Kodai's alarm.

"Oh... my! B-but, the-the letter! It didn't, it didn't say how many-" Mr. Kyuzo stuttered.

The man, now fully aware of the professors' issues, reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out another envelope and handed it to him.

He studied it in his hands: Long, thin and addressed to him! He opened it and pulled out a check made payable to him for- "Whoa! ¥810,600!"

That's a lot of money. Although, after the initial shock, he considered the fact that he was now the official carer of 23 children and for all the trouble he's being put through, he could see how this was a reasonable amount.

"Yes sir. We hope you see this as a practical sum of money? This is to cover the overall care of the children over the period of three months. If the experiment is proven worth-while after this time, then we can meet again to discuss further arrangements. This is our card and an instruction manual, if you will-"

He thrust a small laminated card and a booklet at least 200 pages thick towards Mr. Kyuzo, who nodded, "call us if you have any further questions or problems, okay?"

All Kodai could do was nod again which made the Government man apprehensive about just walking away and leaving him with 23 children.

Mr. Kyuzo finally found his voice and offered for the man to come up stairs and have a drink, but the Government official declined, saying he had a long drive, leaving Mr. Kyuzo trudging back towards his apartment with 23 young kids trailing behind.

On the way passed the Japanese restaurant, all the children kept walking, except one; the young girl, probably one of the older ones, paused by the door, gazing at the menus.

She turned and looked at Mr. Kyuzo who gazed back at her.

"Nooo- nooood- nooooood-le?" she said in a little voice. "Yes. _Yuuuuuummmm_," he exaggerated, "my favourite."

She then shuffled up to him, surprising him by taking his hand and pulling him towards the stairs to follow the others up into the lounge room.

When they reached the top of the stairs, the other children had already let themselves in and Kodai found them all sat in his lounge room: on the floor, on the couches, perched on the coffee table.

The young girl found her place on someone's lap and 23 sets of eyes gazed up expectantly at him.

Thinking that telling them he didn't realise there would be this many coming so there would be no where for some of them to sleep would be a bad idea, he stuttered and stammered, not knowing how to start.

Then that little girl stuck her hand in the air, pointing to a bag strapped to her back and, glancing around, he realised that they all had their own backpacks.

He walked over to the girl and asked her her name.

She just looked confused and cocked her head to the side.

Realising she obviously doesn't understand, he gently inches the backpack from her back and pulls the zip open.

Inside is a bed roll; a green plastic lunchbox covered in cat stickers; a photograph of a family, obviously hers, with her mum, dad, older brother and her holding a kitten; and a luggage tag with her name: Suzuki Gonkura and her address.

His address! But one thing was for certain: his English back ground was not going to help much in his now-obvious task of teaching these 23 children to speak English…


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

Right now, all Mr. Kyuzo wanted to do was go up to his bedroom and have a lie-down, but all 23 sets of eager, awaiting eyes told him differently.

Of course, the children took first priority. "Right," he told himself, "pull yourself together man! Japanese. What do you know about teaching children Japanese?"

A quick flick through the 'instruction manual' given to him when receiving the children just proved that that was the first task.

But being a man of many talents and university degrees, it wouldn't take him too long. Japanese wasn't his first language, although Japan had always been a big part of his life.

His father was Japanese, who's heritage had dated back to the 1500's, but his mother was English, born on the sleepy Isle of Wight.

They met on the outskirts of London while studying different courses at one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

That's another story but Kodai was bought up in England on the same island that his mum was raised up on; therefore English was his first language, although living in Japan, it was essential for him to speak some Japanese.

"Konnichiwa," he said hello quietly, self-consciousness taking over. "Sensei, konnichiwa!" they all yelled back, meaning hello teacher.

Wow. Overwhelmed, the man just gaped back at them for seconds, minutes, hours… before snapping back to reality.

Okay, first lesson. Hopefully they can all speak Japanese at least. Holding his hand up to signal for them to stay and wait a minute he stole off towards the attic to retrieve a whiteboard and bought it back moments later to find they hadn't moved a muscle.

Start with letters. He wrote up the 27 characters of the English alphabet on the whiteboard and started by sounding each out, one by one, as his young audience recited and took in this information.

They seemed to understand this new language very quickly and Mr. Kyuzo was soon aware that he had been given 23 super intelligent children.

Within the first week of lessons, the children were able to understand and carry out any orders given to them in English and Kodai found himself referring to the 'instruction manual' as to what to do next:

_Chapter 5_

After teaching your pupils to speak English (numbers and all!) you will need to teach them the following things, in order of importance:

Weapon using-

Gun

Bow and arrow

Darts

Persuasive arguments

Musical instruments-

Guitar

Piano

Violin

Master of other languages-

Mandarin

Spanish

Hindu

Just as he had finished reading the page, he had that prickly sensation creeping up his neck and he realised it was someone reading over his shoulder.

Suzuki was standing behind him, reading the manual.

She didn't say anything but tilted her head to one side and pointed questioningly to the word persuasive. Hum. How was he going to explain this one to an 8 year old? "Umm... well, per-sway-sive. It means when you try to convince someone of something." he said slowly, over-pronouncing every syllable.

She just nodded, realisation crossing her young face, then broke into an unnerving smile and skipped over to join the other kids.

All of them had been very grateful and polite towards him, but none as forthcoming as that little girl.

In the manual, it never said anything about not telling the children about the project to train them to fight for the Government, but he had refrained, thinking it a bad idea.

But they knew something was going on.

I think it's about time I made the announcement; he thought to him self as he stood from his chair.


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4_

He dumped his heavy manual on the table, knocking his lemon-lime drink on the floor.

That got all of their attention. Two of them ran into the kitchen to get towels to clean up within seconds and Suzuki ran over and bent down to pick his drink up before he could even react.

Whilst the two children mopped his drink up off the plush carpet, he thanked Suzuki and the two others and when they finished, they went to sit cross-legged on the floor, obviously sensing he needed to talk.

They could all understand pretty much everything he said, he just had to avoid big words, which he found difficult, but he'd work it out. "Some of you may be wondering why you're here. I don't know what they've told you but-" he was interrupted by Suzuki putting her hand in the air and speaking simultaneously.

She had proven over time that she was obviously the head speaker on behalf of the whole group.

"Sir! We were told it was utter importance that we were to come with you. Even though it meant leaving our family," she paused for breath and Mr. Kyuzo realised that them and their families must have really been dedicated to the Japanese government.

A couple of the others nodded in agreement, "Also, the Government gave my family much money for me."

She said, her face clouding with something. Sadness? Nostalgia? Again, more children nodded in agreement. Wow. Okay, government putting in more money.

"Well, did they say anything about why you have to come live with me for a bit?" he asked.

Suzuki put her hand up again, "They told us we have to take part. They spent many hours talking to our mums and dads. Told us we would be doing the nation an irre- irreplace-able favour." She finished and gasped for breath.

He reached up and stroked his chin, buying him a few moments to process all of that.

"Okay," he said slowly, "Well all of what they told you was true; yes you are working for the Government. And it's my job to train you," he said with a feeble smile.

A glance around the room told him he'd have to elaborate. "You have to fight. Along side the Government, to help the whole of Japan and it's my job to train you for when that day comes. But don't worry, I'm a good teacher and you'll be well prepared," he finished quite bravely he thought.

Realisation was etched across their faces then. Some were angrier, others devastated, and others just went completely blank.

At that moment, he hoped the whole thing would go wrong, that the Government would have to find a different way to win battles, instead of claiming the lives of innocent Japanese children.

He hoped with all of his being that he could find a way to change the Governments mind about the whole ordeal. He had a plan.

Okay is this set up better? Shall I continue? Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5_

The children had had a long day and he could tell from their weary, expressionless faces that they may have had a lot to talk about, but they were all exhausted.

He stepped forward with his arms wide; all the children usually rushed towards him for a group hug when he did this.

This time they were more hesitant, but eventually every one was there and he engulfed them all in a massive bear hug.

"I'm going to try my hardest to help you guys okay? I promise." He whispered, squeezing them tightly. They all seemed to relax after that and he suggested they all get sleep and tomorrow they could forget about the lessons for once.

All 23 children seemed to really like that idea. He smiled and followed them all up to their make-shift bedroom in the attic.

Their second day with him had been spent setting up; meaning they sorted out where the children were all going to eat and sleep.

His house looked deceivingly small from the road, plus, with the money from the Japanese Government, he had bought the Japanese restaurant down below.

He had completely remade his place, and made it almost homely for the 24 of them. It was a hard thing to do really, but it seemed to work out for all of them.

"Night everyone!" he called, "I'll see you in the morning and we'll find something fun for us to do."

"Night Uncle Kodai!" they all called back in unison.

He never really saw any of them alone. They were all each others company and the whole arrangement felt like a forced family, although I don't think any of the children minded too much and Kodai sure wasn't complaining.

Even after a few months, he couldn't even remember life before the 23 little kids had been unceremoniously shoved into his life- and he didn't want to either.

"I must have been so lonely before they came…" he thought to himself. But now was not the time to delve that deep. He had to do something about the Governments plans.

Pondering his options, he stumbled down stairs toward his room and pushed the door open, revealing his tip of a bedroom.

Staggering over to his desk, he shoved masses of sheets of paper, booklets and stationary on the floor, and sat on his desk chair.

He started tugging on his hair; a routine to help him concentrate. Suddenly, he picked up the manual, flicking through it madly.

He was looking for the specific jobs the children would have to do:

The projects jobs within the Government:

Distraction

Persuasive talking

Surprise attack gunmen hidden in small places

Bargainers with foreign Governors

He couldn't read any further. How could they be using them like that? As- as ROBOTS!

They were using them like dispensable weapons that could just be replaced at the drop of a hat.

With no respect for their feelings, or those of the children's' relatives. Like they weren't even human!

Glancing down at the manual again, he saw it in sheds. Oops.

Well, it wasn't like he was going to need it anymore anyway, he thought to himself.

As he tossed the scrunched up bits of paper into the bin, he watched them floating away and was wondering if maybe someone within the Government thought this was wrong.

Because it was. And people obviously would have agreed with him, wouldn't they?

Okay, he thought to him self, pulling the chair around and slouching down into it, he would just take the children round to the Government and ask them for a bit of compassion.

That couldn't be too hard could it? No. Of course not. Who wouldn't fall in love with those 23 adorable children?

Maybe if he was lucky, he could come across some protestors out front. They were always there these days. It would be back up.

But tomorrow, they would try to forget about the whole thing and re think in a couple of days. He owed the children that.

Walking out into the main room, he noticed a big pile of... well… stuff. He walked over to the couch, where there was a big lump under the covers and kicked it with his foot, tugging the blanket off.

Lying there was Suzuki. Curled up in a ball and sucking her thumb she was also clutching an electric blue teddy tight to her.

He ran his hands down the sides of his sunken cheeks, through his stubble, coming to land on Suzuki's cheek.

It was just inhumane how the Government were treating them.

He tucked her back in watching her face relax and wondered out to the kitchen.

There on the counter was the pile of junk mail delivered every day religiously. The top pile was an advertisement for the fair that took place every year around this time.

Starting Today! It stated. So it was decided then; that's where he was going to take them tomorrow.  
I bet they've never even heard of the fair, he thought to him self as he climbed the stairs leading to the bedroom.

As he reached the door, he realised that he really was excited for the morning; for the children to all relax and enjoy themselves for once.

They needed to be able to be kids right now and they had definitely earned it.

Okay, tell me what you think and I'll continue yeah? Thanks so much for the constructive criticism so far.


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter 6_

The children all came creeping timidly into Mr Kyuzo's room at 5:30 that morning, and as soon as they saw he was awake and dressed, they were all bouncing off of the walls.

All bugging him for answers as to where they were going today, Kodai shoed them back up stairs to get dresses and ready, and that they would go for breakfast en route.

He couldn't help but smiling, the butterflies swooping in his stomach; the children's feelings of excitement and freedom were surely contagious.

He pretty much skipped out onto the street himself with the 23 children in tow, all bouncing towards the minivan awaiting their arrival.

Mr Kyuzo, being the dramatic man he was, leant forward slowly towards the drivers ear and whispered the directions to the other man. The driver chuckled and looked behind him to all of the children silently imploring him to spill the beans.

Kodai then looked the man in the eye, winked very precisely and pulled a finger to his lips, signalling for him not to say a word. The driver winked back and pulled away from the curb.

23 groans of frustration was heard when they realised that they were not going to find out the destination of breakfast.

"Welcome to MacDonald's! May we take your order?" A cheery woman piped up from a hidden speaker. Children were shouting orders left right and centre and both the driver and Mr. Kyuzo were beginning to get dizzy, their heads spinning from one side to the other trying to keep up.

Kodai sighed exasperatingly. "25 Breakfast Mc Muffins, 23 orange juices and 2 coffees, 2 sugars in one." He stated, sounding a lot surer than he felt.

Silence filled the car as the woman tried to take all of that in, probably frantically pushing buttons on her computer, trying to get all of it down.  
'Okay sir! That will be $190.50" she came through eventually, sounding flustered. Wow.

He dove for his wallet as the driver drove them through to the next window. These were the times when the Government-donated money was needed. He pulled out the separate card he ordered especially for that money and recited the pin in his head as he pulled up at the next window.

"Wow, so yeah... that will be $190.50 sir," the teenage boy at the window said, registering slight shock on his face. As Kodai pinned in the code, he was told to go round to the next window, where he had to wait another 5 minutes.

As soon as he got the bag passed to him, it was swept out of his hands and disappeared down the back somewhere, where children were yelling and laughing. Eventually the bag was passed back towards the front, and after doing a quick check to make sure everyone got something, he concentrated on his own breakfast.

He had the driver, Dave's breakfast here too but he would be driving them to the fair, he thought it best to give it to him later.

There was really no need to whisper in the drivers ear the next set of directions as the children had forgotten that they were going anywhere; like breakfast out was their treat.

So they took off for the fair grounds, the excitement setting back in to the base of Kodai's stomach as he munched away at his breakfast muffin and sipped his coffee.

All too soon the children were finished eating and were starting to gain a sense of reality, realising they were in fact sitting in the back of a car taking them to some exciting mystery destination.

The children started playing a game where they would all scout for signs advertising something fun and would wonder if that was where they were going until they drove passed the exit.

They had already driven passed an indoor play centre, an anti-gravity world, a water park and were coming up to their exit soon. Suddenly, Dave applied the breaks, resulting in everyone in the car surging forward as a massive flashing yellow sign up ahead told them that all cars wanting to park for the fair must get off here.

Every set of eyes in the car were trained in on the sign, reading it slowly, and like a Mexican wave people were jumping up and down and squealing in delight as they turned off toward the parking site.  
They were lead by a man holding a giant lightsaber towards an empty spot.

Mr Kyuzo swivelled in his seat to face the children so he could set some ground rules.  
"No one runs off okay? If someone's missing, tell me immediately. Warn me if you are going to stop, no nagging for rides or show bags or anything, okay?"

"Ummm humm," they all agreed, obviously eager to hurry me along.

He unbuckled his seat belt slid his door open and walked in slow motion around the other side of the car earning more groans from the back seat.

Smiling and waving through the window, he eventually slid the back door open and all the children bounced out, pushing and shoving, all itching to get a move on.

Leaning through the open window, he passed the driver his breakfast and beckoned the children to follow him towards the ticket office.

Kids pushed and shoved Kodai from behind, audibly edging him into a forced run.

They were all out of breath when they reached the kiosk and he leaned heavily on the side of the box office. "23 children's tickets and one adult please," he asked the middle aged man behind the counter.

The man then proceeded to come out of his box and stare at the children all dying to go through the gates.

They stood there like that for at least 30 seconds before he seemed to gather that the children didn't want to be standing here, so he went back into the cubicle and put through 24 tickets. It ended up costing Mr. Kyuzo about $250 which he put on the Government card.

He turned back to the children. "Remember what I said, okay? Stay together." They all nodded in agreement and pushed him towards the gates. "Okay, okay, I get it, I'm going," he chuckled as he edged towards the ticket collectors.

Their tickets were ripped and each child was counted. Kodai pushed through the gate and held it open for the others. Then, all hell broke loose.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Children sped off in every direction, running towards show bag pavilions and screaming in the face of every ride, how ever tall or fast; climbing between people's legs and dodging prams.

Passers by stopped and stared, some frantically avoiding children left, right and centre as they squealed and pointed.

This was when Mr. Kyuzo considered taking them out more often. But maybe just to a park or something to start off with.

Complete strangers where trying to round up some of the children, others were running away, but mostly people we just staring and laughing.

Suddenly, a piercing whistle sounded the air and everything and everyone seemed to stop and turn towards the source of the sound.

Kodai blushed at the attention but quickly gained a sense of realisation. He bounded around the crowd finding his group and bringing them over to a small square of grass.

After double checking the numbers, he was one child down. Typical, he though. Glancing around him, every passer by was just that- passing by. Everything had calmed down now and nothing looked out of the ordinary.

Suddenly it dawned on him. Who the missing child was. Suzuki of course.

Most of the kids were staring at him, mouths open, unaware. Others understanding what was wrong were looking around for her.

Mr. Kyuzo signalled for the others to follow and started traipsing around the side of a carnival tent.

Around the corner were cages full of different circus animals.

And there was Suzuki. Her hand threaded through the bars of the monkeys cage, playing with them and letting them chase her hand.

Coughing softly, Kodai urged Suzuki to turn around.

"Noooooodle!" she said as soon as she turned around. Mr. Kyuzo didn't think she even cared who it was standing behind her.

"Hmmm?" Kodai said.

"His name is Noooooodle!" Suzuki pointed towards the monkey standing nearest the bars.

The man nodded and walked over to the kneeling girl. "Yes Suzuki. Come on now," he offered his hand to the child, "lets go on the carousel, yeah?"

Suzuki agreed, took the grown mans hand and pulled him towards the others who were all looking restless.

They all wandered around the corner, their excitement settling as they joined the rest of the crowd.

As the group sauntered through the stalls heading towards the rides, bright colours and circus demonstrations were distracting the little ones with "ooohs" and "ahhhhs" here and there.

As soon as the gold and fuchsia carousel came into view, all the kids galloped towards the ticket sales.

By the time Kyuzo got there, huffing and puffing, the children had already asked for 150 tickets on the horsey-go-round.

The young girl behind the kiosk looked flustered but luckily took the children's requests as a joke.

She looked questioningly at him and he asked for 24 tickets.

She double-took but she took his statement seriously as she processed the tickets with the government card he gave her.

Suzuki tugged on Mr. Kyuzo's shirt and pointed to one of the ponies on the second level of the carousel.

Kodai followed and lifted her onto the sliver horse.

She beckoned him to bend down to her level just as the ride jerked forward.

The man bent forward and Suzuki leaded up towards him.

"You know, my parents used to call me Noodle. Do you… do you think maybe, that maybe you could call me that? Could you call me Noodle please? I think I like that better than Suzuki."


End file.
